PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 227 



forms of yellow-wagtail have been recorded as breeding in the British Isles, the 

 blueheaded and the subject of this note, and each is here treated separately. 

 The present race is confined to the British Isles and North-west France in the 

 breeding season. It is fairly common on low ground in England, but is absent 

 from the mountainous districts and the Devonian peninsula. It is also scarce 

 in Wales, and very local in Scotland south of the Great Glen, while in Ireland only 

 two or three colonies are known to exist on Lough Neagh, Loughs Corrib and 

 Mask, and possibly near Dublin, [r. c. B. j.] 



3. Migration. A summer visitor to the districts of the British Isles where it 

 breeds. It is seen as a passing visitor in most of the other portions of Great Britain, 

 and occasionally in counties Wexford and Dublin in Ireland. An uncommon 

 straggler to the remainder of Ireland and to the parts of Scotland north of the 

 breeding area (cf. Saunders, III. Han. British Birds, 1899, p. 129 ; and Ussher 

 and Warren, B. of Ireland, 1900, p. 39). In spring the chief immigration appears 

 to occur on the south-east corner of England, the birds then spreading north and 

 west (cf. B. O. C. Migration Reports, i. p. 71, ii. p. 103, iii. p. 109, and iv. p. 111). 

 A few stragglers may appear towards the end of March, but the first important 

 immigration takes place during the first half of April. Males are then in the 

 majority, however, the main body of females arriving during the second half of 

 the month (cf. Ticehurst, B. of Kent, 1909, p. 98). Southward migration begins 

 .early in August, and has almost ceased by the third week of September (cf. B. 0. C. 



Migration Reports, iv. p. 189; and Nelson, B. of Yorks., 1907, p. 129). Migration 

 is undertaken mainly in small parties, which are often accompanied by birds 

 of other species. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. Nesting place : either in mowing grass or cornfields as 

 a rule, and in the former case well concealed in a depression. Nest : bents and 

 grasses, with sometimes moss, lined with fine grass and plenty of hair. (PI. ix.) 

 Whether the male assists the female in nest building is not certain. The eggs are 

 generally 5 or 6, more rarely only 4, or 7, in number, and are mottled with pale 

 ochreous brown on a whitish ground, sometimes so thickly that the surface 

 appears to be uniform ochreous brown. Exceptionally white eggs, olive grey 

 eggs, and distinctly zoned eggs have been met with. (PL B.) Average size 

 of 100 eggs, -75 x -55 in. [19'01 x 14-15 mm.]. Incubation lasts about 14 days, 

 and is apparently performed by the hen only. The normal breeding time is late 

 in May, but occasional nests have been found towards the end of April, and 

 probably second broods are sometimes reared, [r. c. B. J.] 



